California Story Fund
Out Ranks: GLBT Military Service from World War II to the Iraq War
Steve Clark Hall, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate spent 20 years in the Navy. He commanded two nuclear submarines in the 1990's just as the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was debated and passed. Hall says that most of his superiors and subordinates knew he was gay, but few cared. Hall is now retired and lives in San Francisco.
“Out Ranks” is the first exhibit in the country to explore the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender war veterans.
“Enforced silence has led to collective amnesia about the patriotic service and courageous sacrifices of gay and lesbian troops,” said Dr. Steve Estes, project coordinator and guest curator of 'Out Ranks.' “This exhibit tells the stories of some of our military’s most exceptional service members during the most pivotal times in our country’s history."
Estes has been working for some time to see that the voices and experiences of LGBT veterans are heard. For the past five years he has been a volunteer interviewer for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. “The more than 50 interviews conducted for the Library of Congress project were the inspiration for the ‘Out Ranks’ exhibit,” Estes said.
The exhibit at the LGBT Historical Socity charts the evolution of the U.S. military policy on homosexuality through the experiences of California veterans, presenting detailed portraits of those who served during major military conflicts from World War II to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Read San Francisco Chronicle article about the exhibit.